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The coolest ranch to rent in New Mexico

An extraordinary man has opened up his extraordinary home in the New Mexican desert for people to rent. Places like this are usually impossible to access, but this Wild West crashpad is a barn-storming pioneer

There is only one thing that's certain about Jochen Zeitz, and it's that no one knows what he'll do next. The 52-year-old German is as unpredictable as a box of frogs, and as multifaceted as a hall of mirrors. Call him a businessman and he'll turn conservationist, then rancher, then art patron. He is a former CEO who transformed Puma from a loss-making sportswear company to a cool £1billion brand. An environmentalist who challenges companies on their sustainability. A marathon runner. A pilot who owns the original yellow 1929 Gypsy Moth biplane used in Out of Africa. An author whose book, The Manager and the Monk, 'a conversation on responsible business' written with a Benedictine monk, has been translated into 15 languages. An honorary warden of Kenya. Oh, and a linguist who speaks six languages, including Swahili.

What he's not, I discover on arrival at his new ranch in New Mexico, is vain or a fashionista (in spite of being on the board of Kering, owner of Alexander McQueen and Gucci, among others). Surrounded by barking dogs, he looks like a scruffy itinerant cowhand: baggy khaki shorts and crumpled shirt hanging on his whippet-thin runner's frame, his straggly hair as dusty as his plimsolls. He's just driven his Ford pick-up back from nearby Madrid, an arty, tumbleweed town inhabited by long-haired cowboys and shaggy-bearded bikers, and he appears every bit the local. 'Fancy meeting the bison?' he suggests. 'You don't see those every day…'

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Although his five prehistoric-looking bison with their heavy eyelids, mincing little bottoms and oversized fluffy heads are extraordinary and rare, his home is the real sight to behold. As his neighbour Thomas Wingate puts it: 'I've lived in the Hollywood Hills, New York, and known some pretty wealthy people - but this, I reckon, has to be the classiest house in America.'

David Crookes

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On the top of a gently sloping hill, with views over 177 acres of dry, rocky scrubland, the 11-bedroom property is a cross between a Spanish hacienda, a Mexican pueblo, a modern Western theatre set and an interior designer's fantasy, with brown mud-brick walls, creamy polished plaster and soaring wood and stone ceilings, embellished with antique and contemporary treasures. Lying low beneath cornflower-blue skies and backed by the Ortiz mountains, it looks as if it's been here for centuries, although it hasn't; it was built 16 years ago by William F Tull, a leading architect of the adobe style.

The Birchwood Suite

David Crookes

Zeitz came across the house because it contained replicas of clothing worn by 12 historically important Plains Indian chiefs. 'I couldn't see the collection without seeing the house,' he explains, 'so I made an appointment with Sotheby's, and ended up buying both.' As well as amassing one of the biggest hauls of modern African art - which will be displayed in 2017 in MoCAA, a Thomas Heatherwick-designed museum in Cape Town - Zeitz is also a serious collector of Western and Native American artefacts. As he rather disarmingly admits, few other museums, other than those in major cities, hold as many important pieces.

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Throughout the house, in alcoves and on tables, there are priceless Native American garments and weaponry on show, from war shirts owned by famous Sioux chiefs to a rare three-bladed tomahawk. Walls are hung with tribal hides, original gold-tone Edward Curtis photographs and early-19th-century Karl Bodmer watercolours. A pool-room is lined with shelves of fine Western books, antique chaps, Warhol Cowboys and Indians originals ('My first purchase when I had a bit of money in my 20s'). And to top it all off, a selection of historic American manuscripts and artefacts is exhibited in a chapel.

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As you might expect from someone with such a keen eye, this is no casual collection. It's meticulous, both in conception and presentation. There are letters from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Receipts from Paul Revere. Documents from Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Pictures of outlaws and sheriffs who tracked them down - from Jesse James to Wyatt Earp. The only mugshot of Butch Cassidy. General Custer's last uniform and hat.

The kitchen with [i

David Crookes

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b[/i]óveda, an arched natural-brick ceiling]

'In Washington museums there are fine collections,' he says. 'But they aren't as personal as mine. Here, you can sit and enjoy it, live with it, breathe it. And this is only a third of it; I have drawers more, if you want to see them.' Slightly reeling, I choose to visit the bison instead, pat the horses, dip my toes in the infinity pool with views over stony orange desert, and then sip a glass of chilled Californian wine while watching a blazing sunset with Zeitz's British fiancée, Kate Garwood.

The LA-based film producer, looking every bit the cowgirl in her torn jeans, white broderie-anglaise blouse and wide-brimmed hat, says the people in the area were as much of an attraction to them as the house. 'What's great here is that no one gives a damn who you are. Our neighbours do all sorts: one's a rodeo rider and horse-trainer, another founded the October Gallery in London, another runs the Eaves Movie Ranch, where Gene Kelly once lived and now a film set. They welcome you and then leave you to do what you want.'

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Which in their case was finishing renovations on the house so it could be rented out when they weren't there, and, of course, making time to explore Santa Fe, from pre-Pueblo caves and historic buildings to spas, restaurants and galleries.

'When we had our engagement party here last year, friends from all over the world flew in and had a ball,' Garwood says. The ranch is made for parties. It has its own barn, with four wagons, two old American cars, a replica 19th-century Wild West shop - 'a great spot for drinks' - a full recording studio, and even its own Spanish-style saloon housing a saddle that belonged to Simón Bolivar (after whom Bolivia is named).

Although the couple plan to spend time between their homes here, in Kenya and in London, it's clear they're pretty smitten with Santa Fe. 'When I was 22, I drove cars for people from one side of the country to another, and fell in love with this area,' Zeitz says. 'I vowed I'd come back - and now I have.'

Rancho Alegre (sleeps 22) costs about £8,000 a night, with a minimum stay of a week. Book on www.casasdesantafe.com